SIGNER BUICK-CADILLAC

THE ENGINEERING OF DEMISE

 
By Don Signer
President
Signer Buick-Cadillac
Newark, California
 
Mine is the story of what started as the American Dream when I built a new General Motors dealership business literally from the ground up in 1980, and then followed it with many years of successful operation and excellent relations with factory personnel.  In 1995 I built a second new facility as required by Cadillac, on property designated by GM.  Then, beginning in 1997, General Motors (GM) attempted a factory takeover of GM dealerships on my street; a prototype model for a subsequent ill-fated national initiative called GM Retail Holdings. My disinterest in selling my hard-earned business was met with GM’s singling me out by depriving me of the GMC truck line, which it intended to be housed with Buick and Pontiac across the country to restore viability while GM decimated the Buick product portfolio in favor of trucks.  GM also conducted multiple acts of  harassment to attempt to force me out of business.  Over the years, these conspired efforts involved corrupt actions by virtually dozens of people within, and even outside, General Motors.**  After I survived more than a decade of GM’s vicious efforts to get my franchises, in 2009, GM’s TARP-supported bankruptcy failure allowed it to succeed in taking my franchises and putting me out of business with the support of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.  In 2011, I reported an escalation of one of the aforementioned corrupt actions to to the FBI.
 
I consider the seriously misguided business decisions and ethical deficiencies General Motors demonstrated with me to be indicative of the arrogant corporate culture that led the once highly respected American corporate icon into bankruptcy and taxpayer bailout.  Sadly, it appears that the corporate culture has not changed with the new GM corporation.  A brief overview of the unbelievable story appears below, with a document-supported chronological history presented in other sections of this web site.
 

Overview of History

  

November 15, 2010: GM dismantles my sign and all that I ever worked for.

After twenty-nine years in business, on November 30, 2009 I completed the painful process of closing Signer Buick-Cadillac as a result of GM’s termination of my franchises along with hundreds of other targeted franchises in the United States at the time GM filed bankruptcy on June 1, 2009.  (For original dealership closure message click here.)  My franchises technically remained in effect until October 31, 2010, after which GM ordered the sign to be removed from my property on November 15, 2010. 

An hour after the truck carrying my GM sign drove away, the cover was taken off the awaiting “Cadillac” sign on the GM-owned former Saturn facility two doors down the street, thus signifying the opening of Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick.  Subsequently, a temporary cover displaying the name of the new dealership was placed over the Saturn sign.

 

This new dealership was the result of GM’s awarding of my Buick and Cadillac franchises (and GMC that it repeatedly denied me) to former Saturn dealer Inder Dosanjh, a member of GM’s Minority Dealer Development Program, to whom GM had planned to give my franchises since mid-2008.  Mine was the eighth, and GMC from defunct Fremont Pontiac-GMC was the ninth, East Bay GM dealership Mr. Dosanjh had acquired since April 2008 in a GM-supported, mysterious and unprecedented spending spree of dizzying speed.  The first seven dealerships in this instant empire, three of which Mr. Dosanjh closed down within months, were purchased in a fourteen month period ending in May 2009 as General Motors was plummeting toward bankruptcy.*  Of the dealerships Mr. Dosanjh acquired, mine was the only dealership that GM stole for Mr. Dosanjh’s benefit. 

As GM’s terminations of dealers like me were supported by the U. S. Treasury Department’s Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry at the time of the June 2009 $50 billion TARP bailout, this legalized confiscation of my business for the benefit of a favored person is an action that one would not believe could happen even in a corrupt third world country, let alone in the United States of America. 

The engineering of demise: As despicable as the aforementioned theft was, it represents only a footnote in the final chapter of GM’s adversarial, and often corrupt**, actions with me for nearly two decades.  My story is one of illogical business decisions imposed by GM while it ruthlessly engineered the demise of a dedicated career-long GM dealer who happened to be in the path of the automaker’s local market takeover plan.                              

After my many years of superior performance and consistently excellent factory relations, in the early 1990’s GM initiated actions that denied me opportunities that would have been mutually beneficial, and evolved into its intense efforts to induce my exit beginning in 1997 to achieve factory control of its Newark dealerships.  GM’s Newark actions were concurrent with a larger, but similar, initiative in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.  This groundbreaking initiative included GM’s funding of dealerships it would take over, while designating a chosen dealer(s) operator to run it (them.)  GM’s San Fernando Valley takeover was met with fierce opposition from the California Motor Car Dealers Association due to the unfair cost advantage factory-owned stores would have over privately-capitalized neighboring dealers.  The dealers’ opposition eventually resulted in new laws to prevent GM’s factory takeover structure.   

As new vehicle dealers like me own independent businesses with legally protected territories, for GM’s plan to work, targeted dealers must be willing to sell.  GM initially attempted to persuade me to sell my hard-earned business voluntarily.  When I declined, it resorted to using subversive force.    

The unbelievable story is extremely complex, but it could possibly be sum­marized in a few general plots:                              

  • GM refusal to support my relocation to the Fremont Auto Mall; GM strong-arms me to Newark instead: GM’s Auto Mall rejection was despite the five years and $160,000 I had invested from 1987 to 1992 in this complicated multi-party project I co-developed with nearly all Fremont dealers, the City of Fremont, and the land seller.  Instead, GM used strong-armed tactics to coerce me into relocating  to its illogical, yet higher priced, site in neighboring Newark.  Additionally, GM required that I pay it $150,000 profit for the Newark property it required that I buy from it simultaneously with its purchase of the land.  I ultimately succumbed to GM’s pressure and threats by building a new facility in Newark against my will, and relocating there in 1995. 
  • Buick 90+% national sales decline engineered by GM: GM’s planned long-term phase-out of Buick (salvaged by GM at the last minute in its bankruptcy due to Buick’s recent sales success in China) was accompanied by its repeatedly denying me the Pontiac-GMC franchises needed to restore dealership viability as GM shifted its emphasis to trucks.  GM’s first denial of an eventual four, none of which were related to dealership performance, was my 1991 purchase of DiGiulio Pontiac-GMC with plans to relocate the brands to the Fremont Auto Mall with Buick and Cadillac, but in separate showrooms.  GM’s subsequent decimation of the Buick product portfolio, combined with its repeatedly denying me the GMC truck line it wanted all Buick dealers to have, plunged my dealership into non-viability in recent years and deprived me of millions of dollars of return on investment.  In California, GMC volume alone was more than double the combined total of Buick and Cadillac.  
  • GM’s targeting of Newark market for factory takeover:  This subversive plan led to GM’s ruthless and unjustified late 1997 removal of Newark’s “Fremont Pontiac-Olds-GMC” dealer.  He promptly filed suit against GM, and continued to operate until reaching settlement effective January 1, 1998.  On January 2, 1998, outside picketers appeared, I believe instigated by GM, in front of my dealership and marched non-stop for eight months while GM repeatedly urged me to sell to it.  Over time, GM appointed three different GM-funded operators for its seized Pontiac-GMC dealership, all of whom resigned or failed.  GM had intended for that dealership to take over my franchises as well.  (Due to anti-factory ownership laws, GM modified its program to give the appearance of private ownership.  In reality, these dealerships were disguised factory-controlled operations.)  The Pontiac-GMC dealership failed and closed in January 2009, yet GM continued, without cause, to deny me the two brands.  GM was withholding the Newark GMC franchise (Pontiac division ended with GM’s bankruptcy) in order to give it to its latest favored dealer, Inder Dosanjh, when it gave him the franchises it took from me, as noted above.
  • GM’s 2005 secret plan to implement without me the same Fremont Auto Mall Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac plan it once denied me, accompanied by GM harassment to induce my exit:  In early 2005, GM initiated a conspired effort whereby many of its employees urged me to sell before I learned of its secret Auto Mall plan.  My disinterest in selling was met with GM’s secret implementation of multiple unconscionable conspired actions to harass me into conceding to its wishes, which began immediately after a secret April 13, 2005, internal GM e-mail series outlining a conspired scheme to induce my exit.**  The financially and emotionally damaging events, for which I have provided documented proof on donsigner.com,  included the following:
    • 2005: Malicious GM warranty audit, unauthorized by GM home office
    • 2005: IRS audit on dealership corporation, the first ever
    • 2006: GMAC defamatory false message to auctions, kept secret from me
    • 2006: GMAC audit for secret illegal GM/GMAC dealership financial information sharing scheme
    • 2007-2008: IRS audit on my personal return, the first ever

Now that Inder Dosanjh acquired the franchises GM confiscated from me after years of engineering my demise, he will go forward with construction of a new Buick-Cadillac-GMC facility in the Fremont Auto Mall while he operates temporarily in the Newark former Saturn facility.  It should be noted that in calendar year 2011, Mr. Dosanjh’s Newark Cadillac sales volume ranked dead last among all Bay Area Cadillac dealers, and Buick volume ranked next to last among Buick dealers. 

Attempt to recover damages:  In October 2005, after the warranty and IRS audits, I learned by accident of GM’s Fremont Auto Mall plan from then Newark Saturn dealer John Cross.  By 2006, it had become apparent that the actions GM imposed upon me over many years had cost me many millions of dollars due to GM’s engineering of the Buick collapse accompanied by groundlessly denying me Pontiac-GMC, and then its destroying the value of my Newark facility through its planned abandonment of Newark.  After consideration of all factors, in October 2006, in an attempt to amicably settle the issue and be fairly compensated, I offered GM a price to buy my franchises and the facility at current value.  In response, GM initially pleaded with me not to sue.  GM senior management then considered my settlement offer, but rejected it in January 2007, thus forcing me to file suit against GM and GMAC in February 2007. 

In March 2007 GM made me a mid-seven figure settlement offer, which was unacceptable considering my damages.  In April 2007, GM filed a motion to dismiss my suit, which was followed by the judge’s upholding of eight counts going forward to trial.  The judge retired in August 2008.  In May 2009, after 27 months of my preparation for a trial scheduled to begin July 20, GM was mysteriously able to get the new judge to dismiss all eight counts in a disturbing and extremely rare granting of summary judgment, shocking many attorneys and a retired judge I have since mentioned it to.  This action denied me my right to present my case to a jury, which I believe would have led to an eight-figure ($10,000,000-$99,999,999) jury award, and set a precedent for other similarly damaged dealers across the country.  Thus, the judge’s action could potentially have saved GM hundreds of millions of dollars and extensive negative publicity.  While I am confident an appeal would have reversed the bizarre dismissal, I did not pursue it due to GM’s bankruptcy filing in June 2009 that left it nothing to pay an award. 

Sad sight of a destroyed lifetime investment.

 Treasury Department avoids investigation of GM/IRS collusion, Signer reports to FBI: In June 2010, I filed a complaint with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA,) the Treasury Department’s office that investigates IRS fraud, waste, and abuse.  My complaint contained overwhelming document-supported evidence that GM instigated the aforementioned 2005 and 2007-2008 IRS audits as elements of its harassment strategy to induce my exit.  After my subsequent multiple unsuccessful attempts at learning the status of the TIGTA investigation, in April 2011, TIGTA informed two inquiring Members of Congress that it found no evidence of GM/IRS harassment conspiracy in carefully-worded letters that clearly implied that the office had conducted an investigation of my allegations.  In June 2011 I obtained internal documents that state that TIGTA did not investigate my allegations, thus proving that, in truth, TIGTA “found no evidence” because it didn’t look, and thus had deceptively misled the Members of Congress.  Some TIGTA internal documents contain false statements that “justified” non-investigation. an action that is eerily similar to the judge’s denying me my right to a trial in 2009.
 
As TIGTA’s actions further confirm to me the GM/IRS collusion, in August and September 2011, in staged succession I sent certified letters describing my observation of a TIGTA cover-up to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and President Obama.  I received no response from any of the addressees, which constitutes an implied affirmation of my allegations of a TIGTA cover-up.  In September 2011 I reported my document-supported observations to the FBI, whose agents initially informed me that I had reported it to the right people.  As my subsequent status inquiries have gone unanswered, I sent certified letters to the San Francisco FBI Special Agent in Charge, and to FBI Director Robert Mueller and U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder.  I also furnished copies to Congressman Pete Stark and Senator Barbara Boxer, each of whom sent an inquiry on my behalf to the FBI in late January 2012.  In April 2012, Congressman Stark and Senator Boxer forwarded replies they had received from the FBI, which proved to be fruitless in prompting an investigation of the TIGTA cover-up I alleged.
 
It is noteworthy that GM and the Treasury Department have been business partners since June 2009 by way of the controversial $50 billion taxpayer-funded TARP bailout, a fact that may have contributed to the apparent TIGTA cover-up.  On January 25, 2012, the U. S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform published a report strongly suggesting political motivation for government delayed investigation of a Chevrolet Volt safety issue.  The report points to the importance of public perception of an untarnished and successful GM to President Obama’s re-election.  This alleged motive for covering up news detrimental to GM and the Treasury-crafted bailout is eerily similar to my observation of TIGTA’s motive in my case.   
  
GM employee Jim Gentry becomes Dosanjh’s CFO: Adding to the shocking nature of the GM events is the action of Jim Gentry, a GM employee who, behind my back beginning in early 2005, spearheaded GM’s aforementioned secret Fremont Auto Mall four-franchise project and the concurrent conspired efforts to induce my exit. He was also instrumental in creating Mr. Dosanjh’s unprecedented instant GM dealership empire that began in 2008, as well as driving other long-time neighboring dealers out of business. After the empire was built and my franchises had been tagged for Mr. Dosanjh, Mr. Gentry mysteriously left GM after 24 years to become Mr. Dosanjh’s Chief Financial Officer in August 2010.
 
Groth Brothers Chevrolet closes, files suit; Gentry returns to GM employment:  One of the East Bay dealerships GM drove out of business was Livermore’s 76-year family business, Groth Brothers Chevrolet (formerly Olds-GMC.) As Groth was an unwanted nearby competitor of Mr. Dosanjh’s Dublin Chevrolet dealership, GM, Ally Financial (formerly GMAC,) and Mr. Dosanjh had worked for years to engineer Groth’s demise.  After considerable GM/GMAC/Ally emotional and financial harassment of the dealer, in August 2010 Groth Brothers was forced to close and file bankruptcy, after which the bankruptcy court solicited offers starting at $500,000 for the liquidation of assets such as shop equipment and office furniture. The proceeds would go to Groth Brothers’ creditors, with none to Groth. As the only bidder, Mr. Dosanjh, represented by Jim Gentry, purchased Groth’s assets in November 2011 for $550,000. They then sold them at auction a month later for a net after expenses of around $120,000, leaving Mr. Dosanjh an instant loss of about $430,000. Since Mr. Dosanjh’s purchase did nothing to prevent GM from awarding a Chevrolet franchise to another competitor, the motive for such a seemingly foolish action was unknown.
 
Groth Brothers filed suit in March 2012 against GM, Ally Fiancial (GMAC), Inder Dosanjh, Jim Gentry, and GM employee Susan Keenehan.  The fifteen-count suit, which may be viewed by clicking here, alleges that the named parties conspired in recent years to drive Groth Brothers out of business for the benefit of Inder Dosanjh. The defendants are the same co-conspirators who engineered my demise beginning in 2005.  When Groth’s attorney attempted to serve Mr. Gentry the lawsuit in March 2012, it was learned that he had recently returned to employment at GM. As GM hiring back a departed employee is virtually unheard of, it appears that GM had placed Mr. Gentry with Mr. Dosanjh temporarily to clean up various issues. The events further the appearance of impropriety, and that Mr. Dosanjh’s instant empire is, in truth, a disguised factory operation.  California laws protect privately-capitalized independent dealers from unfair factory competition, which in 2011 caused Chrysler Corporation to be forced to dispose of a new illegal factory-owned dealership in Los Angeles.
 
In April 2012, GM’s and Ally’s attorneys filed with the court to remove them from the Groth lawsuit, claiming that Groth Brothers’ right to sue went to Mr. Dosanjh with the assets he purchased. It thus would appear that this was the motive for Mr. Dosanjh wasting more than $400,000 — it protected GM and Ally from Groth Brothers’ legal claims that could run well into the milliions. As Mr. Dosanjh’s litigation-thwarting action appears to be for the benefit of GM and Ally/GMAC, it seems highly unlikely that Mr. Dosanjh incurred the loss out of his own pocket.  Despite the apparent success of the plan to block Groth Brothers’ legal rights, it is my understanding that Groth’s right to sue may be restored if conspiracy can be proven – a seemingly easy task considering the extensive evidence.
 

Financial and emotional damage from GM’s actions: From the time that GM selected me to establish Fremont’s first ever Buick dealership in 1980, and first Cadillac dealership in 1990, I proudly operated a successful and highly reputable business into which I invested my heart and soul, as well as all of my capital.  The business was my live­lihood, my lifestyle, my identity in the community, and my primary source of self-esteem.  My loyal employees and customers were my family.  All of that ended with GM’s ruthless action that destroyed everything I had ever worked for, as well as the careers of my employees who averaged thirteen years tenure.  It is hard to imagine how those in General Motors and the U. S. Treasury Department who engineered this destruction can live with themselves.

The movie script: A comprehensive chronological account of GM’s misguided and vicious actons imposed on me appear under the Dealership History tab at the top of this donsigner.com website.  In addition, this section refers to links to Expanded Details listed in the right column of the website, which contain links to extensive documentation supporting the story that would otherwise seem unbelievable.  As the story is quite complex with many overlapping “subplots,” I suggest that readers first review the History Timeline (Excel file) (PDF file) in order to aid comprehension of the stranger-than-fiction story, which has prompted many people to encourage me to have a movie made. 

Had GM fairly compensated me amicably in late 2006 for the past financial damage and abuse it had inflicted on me, my life would have been much different ever since.  My hostility, and the story that had developed, would have faded away.  As it turned out, the story became even more bizarre in the years that followed.

I welcome questions and comments, which I will hold in strict confidence.  Please send e-mail to don@donsigner.com.         

I recommend printing the History Timeline (Excel file) (PDF file), then keeping it at hand while reading the Dealership History.  Please see terms of use regarding this website.          

Don Signer

* Mr. Dosanjh’s East Bay GM dealerships acquired since April 2008 include:

1.      Saturn of Oakland (April 2008 - Closed April 2008.  Purchased and closed simultaneously.)
2.      Saturn of Fremont (in Newark) (April 2008 - Closed January 2009.) 
3.      Hayward Chevrolet (October 2008 - Closed August 2009.)
4.      Fremont Chevrolet (January 2009 - Present.  Formerly Central.)
5.      Dublin Chevrolet-Cadillac (October 2008 - Present.  Formerly Crown.)
6.      Dublin Buick-GMC (April 2009 - Present.  Formerly Dublin Buick-Pontiac-GMC closed by previous owner.) 
7.      Concord Chevrolet (May 2009 - Present.  Formerly Fitzpatrick.)
8.      Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick (November 2010 - Present.  Buick & Cadillac from Signer Buick-Cadillac stolen from me by GM)
9.      Fremont Cadillac-GMC-Buick (November 2010 - Present.  GMC from Fremont Pontiac-GMC closed by previous owner in January 2009.) 
10.     Groth Brothers Chevrolet (asset purchase) in Livermore (October 2011 - Closed October 2011.  Purchased and closed simultaneously.) 
(11.  In addition to East Bay points, Mr. Dosanjh acquired Honolulu Buick-GMC-Cadillac in November 2009.)

Note:  In addition to the dealerships named above, GM directly or indirectly caused the closure of three other neighboring competitors of Mr. Dosanjh:

  • In March 2009 Marina Buick-Pontiac-GMC in San Leandro closed under pressure from GMAC, which was followed the next month by GM’s awarding Mr. Dosanjh the recently closed Dublin Buick-Pontiac-GMC.  
  • In its June 2009 bankruptcy, GM terminated Michael Stead Chevrolet in Walnut Creek, an unwanted competitor located between Mr. Dosanjh’s newly acquired Concord and Dublin Chevrolet dealerships.  GM also terminated Mr. Stead’s Cadillac franchise of thirty years with the apparent intent of awarding it to Mr. Dosanjh’s Concord Chevrolet dealership, but Mr. Stead obtained Cadillac back in arbitration offered to terminated dealers as mandated by congressional action in 2010.
  • In August 2011, 76-year family dealership Groth Brothers Chevrolet in Livermore , another unwanted competitor of Mr. Dosanjh’s Dublin dealership, closed and filed bankruptcy.  This followed years of conspired damaging efforts by GM, GMAC/Ally, and Mr. Dosanjh to induce Groth Brothers’ closure.   

Woman and minority dealers given preferential treatment:  When GM filed bankruptcy in 2009, it did not terminate Groth Brothers apparently due to its ownership by woman dealer Robin Groth-Hill, a third generation dealer.  A 2010 Treasury Department report revealed that in its bankruptcy, GM largely avoided termination of woman and minority-owned dealerships, presumably at the urging of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, which engineered the TARP bailout.  At the time of GM’s bankruptcy, Michael Stead and I were two of only three remaining white male GM dealers in the East Bay.  The third one was Dan Gatto of F. H. Daily Chevrolet in San Leandro.  In October 2012, GM/Motors Holding bought out Mr. Gatto and appointed an Asian male as dealer operator.

** It is my opinion only that GM exhibited corruption and was the instigator of the damaging acts, some of which included conspired outsiders.  This opinion is based on overwhelming documented evidence presented on donsigner.com.   

 
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